Elizabeth Park Greenhouses (Sweetland-Patricelli Greenhouse Complex)

In 1894 the financier Charles M. Pond bequeathed his estate to the city of Hartford on condition that it be named for his late wife, Elizabeth; the city took possession in 1897. Theodore Wirth, hired in March 1896 as the city's first professional park superintendent, designed the East Lawn in 1896 and the Rose Garden in 1904.

In 1897 Wirth and the park commissioners contracted with Lord & Burnham of New York, a company that supplied iron-and-glass greenhouses, solariums and conservatories across the United States. Two buildings, each 100 feet long, were completed in 1898: the Orchid House and the Propagation/Cactus House. The Big House, 100 by 22 feet, followed in 1925 to meet the nursery's needs.

The Putnam greenhouse, another Lord & Burnham structure, 75 feet long with Gothic arches, was donated by the Phelan family and relocated in 2001-2002; only one third of the original was rebuilt. The Ethel Donaghue Trust funded restorations in the 1990s and 2000s. In 2023, after several months of work paid for by a $600,000 grant from the Robert & Margaret Patricelli Family Foundation, the complex was dedicated as the Sweetland-Patricelli Greenhouse Complex. It has run continuously since construction except during renovations.

The Sweetland-Patricelli complex consists of three long greenhouses in a row, all by Lord & Burnham. The Orchid House is 100 feet long and only 10 feet wide, about 30 m by 3 m; the Propagation/Cactus House has the same length and is 17 feet wide. The Big House of 1925 measures 100 by 22 feet and is lined on its south side by nine cold frames.

The Putnam greenhouse, 75 feet long, is distinguished by its Gothic arches. After its relocation, only one third of the original structure was rebuilt.

The whole serves horticultural production rather than display: long, narrow houses for multiplying plants, forcing bulbs and protecting cuttings. At the scale of the park, Wikipedia describes the facility as four greenhouses and a garden head house.

More than 180,000 plants are grown each year in the greenhouses for the park's beds, including the American flag bed, and for Hartford's municipal plantings. Seeds are sown, cuttings started and bulbs such as tulips forced for the annual show. Exotic and tropical plants are also housed there, while the Orchid House, one of the two oldest, is the narrowest of the group.

In December poinsettias take over for the holiday decorations. The Putnam greenhouse is used mainly to display plants to the public.

The sources consulted do not detail which orchids or tropical species are shown today: the interest of the place lies as much in its production role as in its collections.

The greenhouses stand in Elizabeth Park, a 102-acre park straddling Hartford and West Hartford, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. Public access is limited: the city says it can open the greenhouses for two weeks in spring, during the March show organised by the city's park gardeners and the Elizabeth Park Conservancy, after which plants are sold.

A visit combines with the neighbouring Rose Garden, created by Wirth in 1904 and described as the oldest municipal rose garden in the United States, and with the Pond House Café, housed in the former pond memorial building restored in 1997.